Lubbock County leaders this week approved a long-term lease with the private board tasked with overseeing construction of the county’s long-awaited Expo Center.
The lease with Lubbock County Expo Center Inc. states LCEC will pay the county $1 per year to operate the Expo Center on the 80-acre site at North Loop 289 and University Avenue for 27 years – with the admittedly peculiar number factoring in about two years for construction, according to the county’s civil division. The lease includes language allowing the parties the option of extending the agreement through two, 25-year renewals.
Commissioners OK’d the lease in their Monday meeting over the objections of Commissioner Mike Dalby and County Judge Curtis Parrish, who expressed concerns about what they called the lack of protections for county voters who, in 2018, approved a $40 million Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) election to help fund the project.
The county is expected to contribute $40 million in bond funding backed by the HOT for the project, leaving the private entity — the LCEC board — to fundraise the rest.
Parrish questioned termination-clause language in the lease that requires both the county and LCEC to be in mutual agreement to potentially terminate the lease, and calling the agreement one-sided.
“Should this body be in the practice of protecting a private organization like that?” Parrish said.
Ashley Cox with Lubbock County’s civil division said the new lease is in line with those for other, similar public-private partnerships – including the Taylor County Expo Center – and will assist LCEC in its effort to secure bank financing for its portion of the project.
Parrish said he supports the Expo Center project, but expressed concerns about approving a lease for a facility that doesn’t yet exist.
“I think Lubbock County needs this, I think the citizens of Lubbock County want this, but I also want to make sure that the citizens of Lubbock County are protected, that they do not run into future problems,” Parrish said. “This agreement does not settle those future problems. In fact, it creates in my opinion, more and more future problems.”
Ultimately, the lease was approved in a 3-2 vote, with commissioners Jason Corley, Jordan Rackler and Cary Shaw in support.
Shaw said he supported the new lease, in part, because it had been vetted by the legal experts in the county’s civil division and he was eager to see the project move forward.
“That’s one of the reasons I lean toward this is because we’ve gone to our civil department and gotten their leadership,” Shaw said.
Back in March, the commissioners approved preliminary designs for the expo center as well as a resolution that put into writing the county’s intent to lease the expo center to the private entity charged with fundraising the private funding portion of the $67 million project.
Adam D. Young is the Editor of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Amarillo Globe-News in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at ayoung@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock County leaders OK long-term lease for new Expo Center
Reporting by Adam D. Young, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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By Adam D. Young, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal | USA TODAY Network
